Daughters Of The State
by Rill with a view
Summary: A naked 'princess' left alone in a lavish palace, a strange family of incestuous cannibals, a painting by one of the universe's foremost artists and a bizarre request for help all add up to serious trouble for the Doctor.
1. Default Chapter

_Authors Notes:_

_1) This story, **Daughters Of The State**, has been knocking about in my head for about three months in one form or another. Originally it wasn't going to be a 6th Doctor story - I had a different Doctor in mind. The more I thought about it though the more the story seemed to fit around Colin Baker's Doctor to the point where now I can't imagine it working with the other Doctor._

_2)For those readers who are not British, I should just mention that the 5th November reference in the story refers to Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) which is the big night of the year for fireworks parties in the UK. It celebrates the foiling of a 17th century plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament._

_3) I must also mention that this story contains nudity, oblique sexual references and later chapters contain a large amount of violence. All of which has a genuine purpose within my tale. I have rated the story accordingly._

_4) As ever, I do not own the character of the Doctor or any other parts of the series whatsoever. I'm just playing with wonderful toys created by other people. Please read and review. Part 2 of this story is already written and will be posted here in a few days time._

**Daughters Of The State** (Part 1)

Aristha stood nervously in line with her sisters as they all awaited the arrival of the Grand Usher. Between distractedly fingering her gold necklace and exchanging brief worried glances with her rival siblings, Aristha was desperately trying to hold back the rising feelings of impending doom and certain sorrow. At the very best she was about to lose one dearly cherished sister and at the very worst she was about receive a death sentence. Whatever the Grand Usher might proclaim, Aristha knew that nobody would leave this room feeling a winner. The unwieldy, bloodthirsty, hand of tradition was about to point its finger and life would never be the same again for any of these seven girls.

At the far end of the hall, seemingly in response to some unseen signal, the Palace Trumpeters lifted their instruments to their lips and began a sprightly rendition of the first few verses of the national anthem. How Aristha had grown to hate that tune over recent times. To her it represented nothing less than the whittling away of her happy childhood. Her official state duties had commenced just eight months ago, on the day after her eighteenth birthday, with a guided tour of a freezer factory. She had entered the factory floor to the sound of those trumpets. If the idea had been to instil a subservient mood amongst the workforce then it could only be judged to have been a partial success. Most of the workers had stood to attention and cast their eyes down to her feet as tradition required - no ordinary person was permitted to look upon the face of a Daughter Of The State without her express permission. The obsequious factory manager hadn't quite followed the good example set by his staff. He had cast his eyes down below Aristha's face but not nearly so far downwards as her feet. His inappropriate attention to her had made the day very uncomfortable but she had chosen not to make an issue of it. To do so would have meant instant dismissal and possible imprisonment for the wretched man and public humiliation for his, doubtless, long suffering family.

From that day on the state had dictated ever more how she spent her time. Membership of the Family Of The State meant a life of duty with no freedoms and it was life which she had grown to resent. Even she could never have guessed how much worse things would become. Last week had been the sixteenth birthday of her youngest sister, Nyiha. After the stiffly formal, palace organised, birthday celebration all seven sisters had been taken into their mother's office and shown a document that shocked them all to the core - The Official Secrets Of The State.

Jerking herself back to the present moment, Aristha fixed her eyes upon the intricately carved double doors as the procession entered to the sound of the trumpets. At the head of the party, of course, was the Grand Usher who, upon reaching the end of the line of trumpeters, stood to the side to make way for rest of the group. Next through the doors came the Elders Of The State. This was the all male council who governed the nation and was formed exclusively from members of the Family Of The State. Presently it consisted of all six of Aristha's brothers and her three surviving fathers. The nine Elders took their seats at the head of the hall in preparation for the arrival of Puecia, the Mother Of The State - mother to Aristha and all her brothers and sisters and supreme ruler of the nation.

Whatever the occasion, Puecia liked to make an entrance and today was no exception. A formidable yet handsome woman of around sixty years of age, Puecia was a force to be reckoned with.

"Commoners may raise their eyes and depart."

At the issuing of the command, for that was what it was, the trumpeters turned as one to face Puecia. With perfect synchronicity they lifted their heads as one and looked directly into her eyes for a full ten seconds before bowing and retreating backwards out into the corridor, the last to leave closing the double doors as she exited.

"Grand Usher, you may proceed."

Puecia settled herself comfortably upon her thrown and watched intently as the Grand Usher produced a fearsome looking knife from beneath his robe of red velvet and advanced across the room towards the Daughters Of The State.

* * *

The Doctor scowled furiously at the scanner screen in the console room of the TARDIS. Or rather he scowled furiously at the image which the scanner was currently showing him.

"Well that certainly isn't where I set the co-ordinates for."

It was not terribly unusual for the Doctor to find himself somewhere other than where he wanted to be but his normal default procedure in these circumstances was to bluff it out to his companions and pretend that such a detour was a great educational bonus or even intentionally part of his plans. Currently though, as the Doctor had no companions, there was little point in bothering with any such charade and so he could allow free reign to the vocal venting of his frustrations.

"What's wrong with you?" His fist hammered down on the console. "I mean, does that planet even resemble Krontep? Even loosely? No, no, no. I'll never forgive myself if I miss Peri's wedding."

At the thought of Peri his eyes misted over for a moment.

"I never had the chance to say goodbye," he murmured wistfully. "What must she think of me? Well, I suppose that Yrcanos will treat her well enough." The doubt in his voice was all too obvious.

Deciding to re-enter the coordinates for Krontep the Doctor busied himself around the console

* * *

The Grand Usher raised his knife to Aristha's throat and with one quick flick had removed her necklace and he added it to the five already placed in the silk bag which was attached to his belt. Aristha allowed herself to breathe again as the Grand Usher moved on to collect Nyiha's necklace.

The necklaces, which were structurally identical, had all been given to the girls at birth and each was engraved with the name and birthday of its respective owner. The girls had worn the necklaces every day since the time when they were adjudged old enough to take responsibility for them. These pieces of jewellery, although extremely beautiful, had seemed ordinary enough to the girls. After all, what is one more trinket when you are living in such luxury? It was only the previous week upon reading The Official Secrets Of The State that the girls had learned of the true and frightening significance of their necklaces.

With all seven necklaces now in his possession, the Grand Usher removed the silk bag from his belt and kissed it once before crossing the room and handing it over to Puecia.

Puecia got to her feet.

"My daughters, my most dear to my heart," she began. "Your moment has come."

Her daughters stood stock still and rooted to the floor in fear as Puecia's hand dipped into the bag for the first time. After a few seconds of feeling around inside the bag, her hand re-emerged with one of the necklaces draped over her index finger. Nobody other than herself was close enough to the necklace to be able to ascertain which of her daughters it had belonged to so the tension in the hall remained palpable as the Mother Of The State raised the necklace to her eyes and read out the inscribed name.

"Sajika, third daughter of Puecia, is to be the new Mother Of The State. As our law declares, the transfer of authority is immediate. I hereby abdicate the throne in favour of Sajika. My daughter, please take your rightful place."

Puecia stepped aside as Sajika walked towards the throne. As her daughter drew level with her, Puecia handed her the bag containing the remaining six necklaces before joining her husbands and sons on the Elders bench.

Shakily, Sajika dipped her hand into the bag and quickly drew out a necklace. She took a deep breath and only then did she look at it.

"My sisters, my most dear to my heart. Aristha, sixth daughter of Puecia, is to be the people's Goddess and leader of the Church Of The State," she said sorrowfully. Then her voice hardened. "Guards!"

The double doors reopened and the personal guards of the Mother Of The State marched in and stood before the throne with their eyes downcast towards Sajika's feet.

"Commoners may raise their eyes and receive my commands. My sister, Aristha, is your Goddess. Seize her! Escort her to the Holy Building and guard her well. Ensure that no male has any contact with her before my weddings take place at noon tomorrow."

As Aristha was being removed from the room Sajika looked away, a pained look on her face. As the doors slammed closed the moment passed and Sajika regained her composure. She lifted the silk bag above her head and tipped the last five necklaces onto the floor.

"My sisters, you are hereby released from the Family Of The State and are free to choose your own destinies out there amongst our people. I wish you all good fortune and prosperity."

* * *

Good fortune was the last thing which the Doctor was experiencing. Krontep was still evading him and to make things even worse the console had just overloaded with a glittering array of sparks, bangs and flashes impressive enough to put any 5th November fireworks display to shame. To top it all off the scanner screen was now displaying what appeared to be a very thick mist through which the Doctor could make out very little other than a few vague shapes. Deciding that there was nothing else for it, he decided to explore. He pulled the lever which opened the exit doors and strode out of the console room…

…and straight into a thick pane of frosted glass. Rubbing his bruised nose in annoyance, the Doctor took a step back into the TARDIS to view the obstruction at a greater distance. Upon a second glance it seemed that there were actually two panes of frosted with some kind of magnetic strip dividing them.

"Ah," the Doctor muttered ruefully. He reached out and swiftly parted the two panes, which slid aside easily, and he stepped out into the bathroom proper.

"Materialising in someone's shower cubicle! Thank goodness Peri isn't here or I'd never live this down. Still, this could yet be rather awkward if there's anyone at home."

The Doctor perched himself on the edge of the nearby bath suite and studied his surroundings more closely. To call this a bathroom was really to undersell it by a wide margin. It was probably the most lavish and luxurious bathroom that the Doctor could ever recall having seen. The mirrors were gold plated, the carpet was lush and soft, the bath itself was almost big enough to swim in and the paintings on the wall were certainly not prints.

"Decadent but very impressive nonetheless," was the verdict. The Doctor stood up and examined some of the paintings more closely, whistling in astonishment at the seemingly genuine signatures of many of the leading lights of late 22nd century art.

"Let's see if the rest of the house is up to scratch."

After around half an hour of exploration there remained no doubt at all in the Doctor's mind that he was in the home of somebody of great importance. The furniture was opulent to say the least and this was also an abode which lacked for nothing in terms of the latest technology. The TARDIS had a habit of placing the Doctor right in the centre of the action and so, upon reflection, the private bathroom in a palace wasn't too strange a place to land. What did strike the Doctor as being strange though was the fact that nobody had yet turned up to either arrest him for trespassing, threaten him with immediate execution or indeed both. For a palace this was a remarkably quiet place. The Doctor was beginning to wonder if he'd go on for days wandering the corridors alone but then he rounded a corner on the second floor and came face to face with the naked girl.

"Good gracious," he exclaimed. "It's a long time since I've seen anything quite like that!"

Aristha gazed at the colourful stranger in total astonishment. "I beg your pardon!"

"That painting hanging on the wall behind you! I do believe that it's a genuine Galgathargo. Do you know when it last was that I saw a Galgathargo? No, no… of course you don't. Silly question. I'm the Doctor, by the way, how do you do?"

The Doctor reached out his hand and, despite herself, Aristha accepted it and shook it briefly before her astonishment returned.

"Commoner, you are standing there looking at a naked Daughter Of The State without permission being granted unto you to so much as lift your eyes above my toes and all you do is talk about a painting!"

"Well it is a very beautiful painting you know? Prison in paradise - I believe that's what old Herbian Galgathargo titled it. He wasn't entirely satisfied with that second lion on the left but I assured him that it had character. Well, it certainly had bite. Is it yours?"

The Doctor smiled at Aristha and seemed to notice for the first time that she was totally naked.

"You're not wearing any clothes," his tone was almost accusatory. "Here, put my coat on, even luxury royal palaces get draughty at this time of year."

Aristha gratefully accepted the coat. "Thank you, commoner."

"'Doctor' will do fine. Now how about you tell me how you came to be wandering around naked amidst all of this luxury. And don't tell me that all of your robes are at the dry cleaners."

"I am naked to prevent me from escaping from this palace. There are no clothes anywhere here."

Aristha led the Doctor downstairs into the drawing room. She sat down on a sofa and indicated that the Doctor too should be seated.

"As you must surely already know, I am Daughter Of The State Aristha."

The Doctor just shrugged.

"Do you never read the newspapers or watch the television, commoner?"

"Ah, well I have been a little out of touch recently. You see, I was on trial and so had little time to keep up with current affairs. Not even on my own planet."

"Ah, I see, " nodded Aristha. "You're an alien. That would explain much. Very well then commoner - I shall tell you my story, tragic though it is, and then perhaps you might be able to help me."

"If I can. Do tell on."

For the next hour the Doctor listened intently as Aristha poured out her entire life story. She began by regaling him with tales of her childhood and the difficult transition to state duties. The Doctor barely interrupted her except to give the occasional nod of encouragement or grunt of affirmation. Eventually she reached the part about Nyiha's sixteenth birthday and the Official Secrets Of The State.

"We all filed into that room, myself and my sisters. I believe that my brothers were shown the same document later that same evening. My mother informed us that she had something very serious to tell us. She then told us about the secret rituals for the transfer of sovereignty from one Mother Of The State to the next. I'd always assumed that the position passed from mother to eldest daughter. I'd never met any of my mother's sisters and now I know why. The succession happens sixteen years after the birth of the outgoing Mother Of The State's youngest child. The succession is a lottery. Two of our necklaces are drawn at random from a bag. The first necklace tells us who is to be the new Mother Of The State. This time it was my third eldest sister, Sajika, she is to be married to our six brothers tomorrow at noon. The second necklace drawn tells us who is to provide the food for the wedding feast. Yes, Doctor - I see that you're beginning to understand. Tomorrow at noon I am to be eaten alive by my own family… In order to guarantee maximum good fortune for my sisters and continue the health and strength of the Family Of The State I must suffer the worst misfortune possible. This is it… "

Her voice tailed off. For once in his lives the Doctor was genuinely shocked and lost for words. After a struggle, the best that he could manage was : "And what of your other sisters?"

"They are now free of all duties and will go out amongst the people to live as they choose to live. They will never speak to anyone of my fate upon fear of the same or worse happening to them. They shall never return to the palace."

"Just as well really Aristha, what with all of the incest, polyandry and rampant cannibalism going on around here I somehow doubt that your family reunions would ever be a huge barrel of laughs."

He caught her glance.

"I'm sorry, but I am having a little trouble understanding all that you've told me. Are the whole population of this planet practicing cannibalism?"

"No, the common people know nothing of this. Tomorrow on the TV news it will be announced that I've been selected to lead our church. I'll be regarded by the people as a living Goddess whom none may enter the presence of. So the people will easily accept that they'll never see me again. My family aren't really cannibals, not in the way you mean. This only ever happens once in every generation at the succession."

"I see. Well what about the inbreeding? All of this stuff about all of the brothers marrying the same sister. Are you telling me that this has been going on for generations too?"

"Yes. Only a direct descendant of a Mother Of The State can be a Daughter Of The State. That's why at succession the remaining Daughters Of The State leave the palace. With me dead and my sisters banished there'll be no more Daughters Of The State until Sajika produces her first daughter - fathered by one of my brothers. "

"No, none of this makes any sense Aristha. With such a high level of inbreeding over so many generations then I would expect a very high level of mutation and deformity in your family yet you're…"

"I am beautiful. Yes, you may say it."

"Well that's certainly how human eyes would regard you. But that's not the most pressing issue. Right now it's your family's feeding habits which concern me the most. I'm not going to let anyone eat you - alive or otherwise."

Aristha smiled at him. "You can save me so easily Doctor. All of the guards here are female. No male is allowed anywhere near me between now and the wedding feast. Do you understand?"

"Not entirely, no."

"The only thing that will stop them from eating me is if they should discover that I am carrying a child. They will not harm me then. You must be the father to that child. But time is short, we only have but a few hours."

The Doctor leaped out of his chair as though boiling water had been poured into his lap.

"It's out of the question. Apart from the fact that I'm from a different planet to you, what makes you sure that one night with me would be enough to make you pregnant? And how on earth would you persuade your family that you are so? "

"One night is enough. We are a very fertile race, we can become pregnant at any time."

The Doctor shook his head.

"I know of no humanoid race where that's biologically possible. No."

"I assure you that it is true. Please… Help me."

The Doctor looked into her eyes and saw that she was telling the truth so far as she understood it. After what seemed an eternity to Aristha he slowly nodded.

"OK, I understand what I need to do."

**END OF PART 1**

_(to be continued soon)_


	2. Part 2

_Authors Notes: Here's the second part of my four part 6th Doctor fiction. The primary function of this, somewhat shorter, second part is to serve as a bridge between the questions posed in the first part and the further revelations which are to come in the third part. Again - please read and review._

Daughters Of The State (Part Two)

The next morning found the Doctor sitting alone in the drawing room contemplating the events of the previous night. He was not at all proud of what he had done, In fact he was thoroughly ashamed of himself but what choice had he had? No, he'd done the right thing . Hypnotising Aristha and giving her a false memory of him complying with her wishes had been his only option. After planting the false memory, the Doctor had instructed her to sleep for six hours. She would be under no threat until noon and the Doctor needed the time to think about the next move. Aristha would awaken in around one hour from now firmly believing that she was pregnant with the Doctor's child.

While the Doctor had Aristha under hypnosis he had taken the opportunity to learn more about her and the first thing which he learned was that she had very recently been hypnotised by another person. That was pretty much what the Doctor had suspected all along. Her story of the interbreeding governing family and her wild claims about her own reproductive capability just did not ring true. The cannibalism part he was not so sure about. Perhaps that was true. Stranger things have happened. But if someone really was intent upon eating her alive then why go to all this trouble of making her think things which were impossible were true? Why give her that glimmer of hope? Why not just eat her and be done with it? He had asked her to tell him what the last instruction that she had been given was. That had not got him very far as it turned out the last instruction had simply been not to reveal what any of her previous instruction had been. Whoever was behind this had done a very thorough job indeed.

* * *

An hour later, the Doctor was still lost in thought when Aristha entered the room. Upon hearing her footsteps, the Doctor straightened up in his chair and did the best to summon up his most genuine looking false smile.

"Ah, Aristha," he began rather uncomfortably. "I trust that you slept well…" His voice trailed off in astonishment as Aristha crossed his line of vision.

"Where did you get those clothes?" he enquired a little too sharply. "You told me that there were no clothes anywhere in the palace."

The Doctor had expected Aristha to make her entrance draped in his own patchwork coat that he had loaned her the previous evening. True, she was wearing the coat but underneath it the Doctor could clearly see jeans, the top of a powder-pink coloured t-shirt and upon her feet a pair of very fashionable looking shoes. Fashionable for early 21st century Earth that is. For her part, Aristha just starred blankly back at the Time Lord.

"You gave me the coat last night before we…"

The Doctor cut her short. "Yes, well I think that little deception has gone quite far enough. Aristha - please listen very carefully to me and concentrate upon what I am saying. Nothing happened between us last night apart from me placing you under hypnosis and planting a few false memories into your mind. I also might add that I'm not the only person to have done so in recent days. I suspect that much, if not all, of the story which you related to me last night is nothing more than a collection of falsely implanted recollections of events which have never happened to you."

The Doctor appeared to be getting through. Aristha shuffled uncomfortably from foot to foot as she considered what the Doctor was saying. She opened her mouth as though to say something but changed her mind and clamped it shut again. Her eyes fell to the floor and her distress was all too obvious. The Doctor felt sorry for her but he knew that he might have to cause her even more upset before she might see the full truth of the situation.

The Doctor stepped towards her. "We don't have time for this, let me show you."

He indicated to her that she should take off the coat. Aristha removed the coat and ,after she'd let it fall to the ground, the Doctor took hold of her hand and placed it against the side of her leg.

"There, can you feel the material? You're fully dressed and my guess is that you've been fully dressed in these very same clothes all the time that you've been here."

Aristha ran her fingers down right down her leg feeling the texture of the denim beneath her fingers. Slowly but surely, as she looked down she saw her bare flesh gradually become covered in the blue fabric. The Doctor nodded approvingly and pointed down towards her feet. Aristha quickly took in his meaning and knelt down to touch her bare feet. Instead of touching naked skin, her fingers found shoe laces, leather and finally the rubber soles of her shoes. She blinked in astonishment as the shoes started to appear to her. After repeating the whole process again over her upper body, and discovering the t-shirt,, Aristha had no option but to conclude that she was indeed fully dressed. Upon a sudden impulse she dug her right hand into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a crumpled looking £10 note. She gazed at it in puzzlement. The Doctor recognised it straight away.

"Earth money! British money even! Well I think that settles it doesn't it? You're no more a Daughter Of The State of… wherever this is.. than I am." The Doctor took the money from her and examined the portrait on the back of it more closely. "Ah look, Charles Darwin! So, that dates you to the very early 21st century. Someone around here has got a lot of explaining to do." The Doctor raised his voice to say the last sentence though who the words might have been addressed to was more than Aristha could guess at.

The Doctor picked his coat up off the floor and absentmindedly deposited the money into his pocket. Watching him, Aristha was struck by a sudden thought.

"Doctor, last night when you first saw me you didn't seem to notice that I was naked. You were more interested in that picture on the wall. Did you know that I was wearing clothes then?"

"No, no. At least I don't think I did," the Doctor seemed unsure. It was as though he was trying to remember something which was just a little out of reach . "I think that portrait deserves a closer look, Aristha. Come on!"

* * *

The Doctor and Aristha eventually reached the point on the second floor where they had first met and ,as they stood there examining the Galgathargo painting, Aristha's mind was spinning with questions.

"So what you're telling me is that everything which I can ever remember happening in my life never actually happened, all of my real memories and identity are being temporarily hidden from me by persons unknown, this place isn't my home planet and I'm probably not even really called Aristha"

The Doctor nodded enthusiastically. "That's right. You're getting there. Though the good news is… aha!"

While they had been chatting, the Doctor had taken the painting down from the wall and opened up the back of it revealing a bizarre array of multi-coloured wires and flashing lights.

"What we have here is not only an observation scanner but also some kind of hallucinogenic device. This little chap here is the reason why I couldn't see your clothes last night. I must've fallen under its influence when I gazed into the painting. Now, I think it's fair to assume that these toys are placed right through the palace and that they've been helping to maintain the false impressions that you've been given. I recognise this technology too."

"And…"

"And there's good news for you. This technology belongs to race of beings known as Eternals and they exist outside of the confines of time and space. I've encountered them before. Although they possess enormous mental powers, and they're morally ambiguous to say the least, they're not ruthless killers and they certainly don't eat people. You're not on their menu, of that I'm sure. This is just a game to the Eternals."

Aristha remained unconvinced. "You are sure?"

"Oh yes. Now the only major problem which we have now is that I know that everything which has happened here in this palace has been observed by the Eternals. They'll have listened to our every conversation and studied our every action. Now, that nonsense about you and I er… last night. Well, had anything happened, that would've just been added entertainment for them before the main event - whatever that might turn out to be. It's almost certainly a mind game of some kind."

Suddenly seized by a sudden realisation, the Doctor grabbed Aristha by the hand and sprinted along the corridor towards the stairs dragging the girl along in his wake. After an exhausting run through the corridors of the palace, Aristha was relieved when the Doctor finally stopped outside one of the bathrooms. Cautiously he pushed open the door and walked in. Aristha watched from the doorway as he crossed towards the shower cubicle. In one movement the Doctor had the magnetic doors parted and fully opened to reveal the empty space within.

Disconsolately he turned back to face Aristha. "I've been such an idiot. They've read my mind. They know that I'm a Time Lord. And worst of all, they've got my TARDIS."

* * *

Puecia sat back in her chair, watching the Doctor's face on her screen with great amusement. The Grand Usher stood behind her with a concerned look on his face.

"He knows too much. Surely we must remove him from the palace and give the girl another blast of false memories?"

Puecia considered the idea for a moment.

"No. What harm can he do? Besides, I'm rather enjoying the confusion which he is causing in the girl's mind. I see no problem so long as we keep him apart from the other Daughters until the start of the meal. Let's set another place at the dining table - I've just changed the menu!"

**END OF PART TWO**

(to be continued shortly)

_Authors note: For anyone unfamiliar with the Eternals: They are a race of powerful beings who exist outside of time, and live forever in the great void of eternity. They appeared in Enlightenment - a Season 20 story written by Barbara Clegg. I do not own them._


	3. Part 3

_Authors Note's: This third part has been longer in coming than I had intended. Most of it was written some time ago but I ran into difficulties writing a very violent scene which occurs towards the end of this part. I would like to publicly thank _**TimeAsunderQ**_ for helping me to write that scene of violence in a more realistic manner. Some of that paragraph is her work and I'm very happy to credit it as such. Please read and review._

****

Daughters Of The State (Part 3)

(Part 3) 

The loss of the TARDIS seemed to be affecting the Doctor very deeply and hadn't said so much as a word since leaving the bathroom. Aristha, considering the extent of her own problems, was feeling both irritated and nervous at her companion's selfish introspection. More for her own benefit than for his she had decided to try to jolly him up a bit - or at the very least she wanted to get him talking to her again. She needed to know what he was thinking. What was his plan now? After all, this strange man was her only hope of getting out of this mess alive - and even that precarious hope depended upon her believing everything that he had so far told her.

"Come on Doctor," she tried. "Look, I've lost my memory, my whole identity even. I don't know my own real name or where I come from. All you've lost is some silly little box… I mean let's try and keep this in perspective shall we?"

The Doctor stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at her. The expression on his face was a potent mixture of anger and astonishment. Couldn't this silly young girl see how important the TARDIS was?

"Silly little box. Silly little box? Silly little box!," he bellowed.

Upon seeing Aristha's alarmed expression he held up his hands in a placatory gesture and his expression softened as his mouth curled into something very close to a smile. He put one arm around Aristha's shoulders and tapped her affectionately on the nose with forefinger of his free hand.

"That silly little box, as you so inaccurately describe it, was our only means of escape from this… this void. But you're right Aristha. Your needs are more pressing. Besides, it would be very wrong of me to take you away from here before getting your memory restored. We need to confront the Eternals. All we can do now is wait for them to come and get us," he disentangled himself from her and carried on along the corridor. "Let's wait in comfort, shall we?"

* * *

Puecia smiled ironically. The Doctor's TARDIS would indeed have been a fine prize to capture. As soon as she had realised that she held a Time Lord within her grasp she had probed deep into his mind to try to discover the location of the vessel. As a very recent memory in the Doctor's mind, the information concerning its whereabouts had been very easy to come by even at such a distance. Yet a search of the bathroom had proven to be fruitless. The TARDIS had already gone. Puecia was puzzled but not overly concerned. So she didn't have the TARDIS. Did that really matter? The most important thing was that the Doctor didn't have it either. So long as there was no escape for the Doctor she could prolong this game indefinitely. She considered whether to give the order to have the Doctor and Aristha brought to her. Not yet, she decided. Let him carry on talking to the girl - there was plenty of 'time'. In this timeless void there was as much of that particular commodity as she chose to grant the situation.

* * *

The Doctor and Aristha were back in the sitting room. Aristha sat cross-legged on the floor fiddling with her shoe laces whilst the Doctor wore grooves in the plush carpet as he paced back and forth considering his rapidly narrowing field of options.

"There'll be here for me soon," stated Aristha in a matter of fact tone. "It's getting very close to midday."

"Hmm? Time doesn't mean anything here. We're somewhere outside of time, we're trapped in the endless wastes of Eternity. To all intents and purposes it's whatever time the eternals choose it to be."

Aristha got up and walked over to the ornate antique clock perched above the equally ornate fireplace.

"Hey Doctor! It's now four hours earlier than it was when I woke up!"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes. That tells us that the Eternals are in no great hurry. My appearance here has disrupted their plans. Right now they're probably deciding how best to integrate me into whatever delights they have planned for you."

"Dinner?"

"No, certainly not dinner. Even the Eternals can't hypnotise someone into doing something so fundamentally against their nature as eating their fellow humans. Your so called family is made up of two different groups. Some of them will be like you - humans snatched out of their rightful time and place and brought here to amuse the Eternals. The other faction is the Eternals themselves - and they don't need to eat. The question is who is who? Which of your family are Eternals and which are humans? I'll not know that until I meet them. I'm rather banking on the humans being in the majority. When they take us to them I want you to help me to break the hypnosis - as I did with you. Perhaps you'll know some of them from your real life"

Aristha smiled. Just knowing that there was a plan - however wild - gave her something solid to pin her hopes to.

"So what shall we do while we're waiting?"

The Doctor just shrugged.

"Why don't you just switch on the goggle box?"

* * *

Nyiha had not had a good night. She had cried herself into a shallow, fitful, sleep. It was a torment of nightmares and all of them featured her sinking her teeth into the living flesh of her dearest sister, Aristha. Nyiha understood the importance of tradition but there were limits. What she and rest of her family were now obliged to do was both evil and impossible. As the morning's first light had cascaded through her window, Nyiha had awoken with a start and resolved that today she would take a stand and Aristha would be saved. Nobody, not her mother or even Sajika could compel her to harm Aristha. She had been very heartened to discover that the remainder of her sisters had independently reached the same conclusion and it was a very confident and resolute Nyiha who led the delegation to Sajika's room.

Sajika, sat at the head of a long table on the far side of the room, received her sisters with a warm smile.

"My sisters, my most dear to my heart," she began formally as family etiquette demanded of her. "How may I be of service unto you?"

Nyiha, though the youngest, spoke for the whole group.

"My sister, my most dear to my heart. It is a simple matter that we bring before you. We are, none of us, willing to partake in the harming of our dear sister Aristha. Furthermore we are entirely resolved to bring this whole grotesque custom to an immediate end. Your help would be most appreciated - though not essential." Nyiha spoke the last three words through gritted teeth. Sajika may be the new Mother Of The State but surely she must be feeling the same emotions as the rest of the sisters? Would she really be willing to let Aristha die such a terrible death? Nyiha was far from sure that she was getting through though. Sajika's expression was now strangely impassive.

Sajika gestured for her sisters to be seated around her table. When the last girl had taken her place, Sajika produced a small wooden box from under her chair and carefully placed it on the table. She removed the lid from the box and instantly the whole room was bathed in a soft magenta glow which seemed to emit from a depth far deeper than that of the box from which it emanated. The light separated out into five distinct beams. Each sister, with the exception of Sajika herself, felt the warmth of one of those beams on her cheeks and fell into an immediate trance.

Satisfied that all of the girls were under the influence, Sajika got to her feet to issue new commands and implant new false memories. When she had finished, the Eternal snapped the box closed and sat down to wait for the girls to come out of their trances. It might take a few moments.

Puecia entered the room through a secret door in the back wall.

"You've been successful?"

Sajika cast a scornful glance towards the inert girls.

"I could hardly fail now, could I? These primitive ephemeral creatures are so easy to manipulate. Slow of mind but nimble of claw," she grinned slyly. "Yes, they'll all awaken with no memory of ever being told that they have to eat that ridiculous Aristha girl. I've done my part. What about you Puecia? Is their new snack ready to join us yet."

Puecia shook her head.

"Not quite. I thought I'd let him enjoy the pre-dinner entertainment first."

* * *

The Doctor had been delighted that see Aristha turn on the television set in response to his suggestion. The earth girl still retained some knowledge of her planet's slang terms. That was a good sign. Who knows what else might be lurking just beneath the surface waiting to be teased out. The more that he was able to get her to remember the more she would probably remember on her own. At least that was the theory. The Doctor was under no illusions as to how difficult a task it might turn out to be unless he could persuade the Eternals to lift their hypnosis. While Aristha remembered almost nothing she would must likely remain relatively calm and composed but once little pieces of information started to pop back into her brain it was highly likely that her frustration at not being able to remember more would increase. Come to think of it, perhaps he ought to be doing a little digging around in his own mind right now?

Aristha turned from the television to see a blank faced Doctor staring out somewhere into the middle distance.

"What are you doing?"

The Doctor started slightly at her intrusion .

"What I was trying to do, with a singular lack of success, was search for my TARDIS. On the last occasion that the Eternals confiscated my TARDIS they hid it deep inside my own mind. I was just reaching into myself to see if I could find it. Well, if it is there then it's out of my reach. It probably isn't there though. I don't think they'd use the same trick twice."

A sudden thought occurred to him. He reached deep into an inside pocket of his coat and produced a small metallic object with a long loop of chain attached to it. He handed it to Aristha.

"That is the spare key to my TARDIS. We might get separated and, if we do, you might stumble upon the TARDIS before I do. If you find it please get inside, lock the doors behind you, and wait for me. You'll be safe in there.

The Doctor smiled as Aristha tucked the key away into the back pocket of her jeans. Another human reflex action. There were good grounds to hope for the best.

"Now, what is it that you were watching on that mind numbing contraption?" The Doctor indicated the television set.

"Oh, it's a special news programme about the Transition. That cute looking man on the left - he's Heval Yuinjo. He's my favourite newsreader. I had such an enormous crush on him when I was a kid…" Her voiced tailed off sadly as she realized what she was saying. "No, I didn't did I? I've never even seen him before in my life have I?"

The Doctor shook his head sympathetically. He could almost feel the poor girl's anguish as yet another small part of her imagined life was stripped away from her.

"It's going to get easier. I promise you. Let's watch anyway. We might learn something useful."

They did. Or at least the Doctor did. It was straight away obvious to him that the Heval Yuinjo was one of the Eternals. The cool impassive, emotionless expression and the dull lifeless eyes gave him away. The Eternals were almost totally devoid of emotions. Only in the presence of ephemeral beings can they ever really come fully to life. Without the mental stimulation of an ephemeral mind they are as nothing.

The Doctor settled back to watch the show.

* * *

Facing directly into the camera, Heval introduced his next studio guest.

"Well, isn't it every man's dream to fall madly in love with a Daughter Of The State? Only on Transition Day can those wildest dreams come true. For later on today the palace doors will open and five - yes folks, I said five - beautiful girls will walk out. And they're just dying to meet ordinary men like you and I. I'm joined here in our studio by our relationships advisor, Anric Ukvlin, who's going to give us his top ten tips on how to seduce royalty."

The camera panned across to show an elderly, fat, dumpy, ugly, grey-haired little man who looked to have all the charisma of a sack of potatoes - but only half of the charm.

"So Anric," continued the off-screen voice of Heval. "How would you go about getting one of those lovely royal girls into your bed chamber?"

* * *

If the clock in the sitting room was any true indication, it was just over an hour after the conclusion of the television show when the guards arrived to collect the Doctor and Aristha. The Doctor had spent much of the hour trying to impress upon Aristha the very subtle physical signs which she might be able to use to identify an Eternal. He had used Heval and Anric as examples of an Eternal and a human respectively and Aristha, though a keen student, had not found it an easy lesson. Her main source of discomfort had been the need to run all the members of her family through her mind to try to judge who was what. She eventually concluded that her mother was certainly an Eternal and she suspected the same to be true of all of her fathers and brothers. Her sisters were probably all human though. The Doctor, upon receiving her verdicts, had seemed to be very disappointed. Aristha didn't think that it was her perceptive skills that he was disappointed in - indeed he had gone out of his way to congratulate her on them. No, it was the fact that the Eternals were almost certainly in a large majority within the family which was giving the Time Lord pause for thought.

The guards, also Eternals, had marched the two of them out of the residence and through an underground passageway which terminated below the official palace of the Family Of The State. Once within the palace they had been taken to Puecia's office where the wily false matriarch was sat waiting for them.

"So, you know the truth?" This was addressed to Aristha rather than the Doctor.

"No," glowered Aristha. "I don't know the truth, I know all of the lies though. What gives you the right to remove all of my memories? You've stolen my whole life, you malignant old hag."

The Doctor put a steadying hand on Aristha's shoulder. The implication of the gesture was clear to her. Don't get over excited - Puecia will only enjoy your anger and prolong the torment. Aristha gave him an almost imperceptible nod of understanding and the Doctor remove his hand.

Puecia was indeed enjoying the spectacle.

"Such spirit. But alas, I'm sorry to say that your presence at the dinner table is no longer required. I can't risk you giving the game away to the other girls now can I? No. The Doctor is to take your place. My girls are hungry to meet you Doctor."

The Doctor spoke up for the first time in the interview.

"I might very well be tempted to give the game away myself. I'm hardly just going to sit back and let myself be eaten up like Red Riding Hood's grandmother am I? Not that any of those girls are going to harm me. The game's up Puecia. Even you Eternals can not hypnotise a person into doing something so utterly against their own nature. I'm going to go gladly into that dining room and I'm going to undo your little party tricks. It's time that they knew the truth. I persuaded Aristha - you know that I can persuade the others too."

Puecia's smile grew broader and broader.

"We shall see."

She issued instructions to the guards to have Aristha taken to an observation room so that she could watch the events unfold on a monitor screen far away from the other girls. The Doctor gave Aristha an encouraging wink as she was escorted past him.

"Now Doctor," said Puecia. "Shall we dine?"

The Eternal linked her arm through the Doctor's and together they walked the short distance to the state banqueting hall.

* * *

The guards locked Aristha inside the observation room and left. There was little that she could do other than sit down in the only chair and watch the events unfold. The monitor screen gave her a clear view of the entire hall. The rest of her family were already present at the banqueting table when Puecia and the Doctor, still arm in arm, made their entrance. Sajika, of course, was seated at the head of the table in the most elaborate chair. Aristha's sisters were lined up along the left hand side of the table - presumably awaiting permission to be seated, likewise her fathers and brothers along the right hand side of the table. All heads turned as Puecia and the Doctor strode in. They were both looking supremely confident, thought Aristha.

"Well Doctor? Now is your big moment. I'll introduce you as the main course and then you can have your right of reply. Does that sound fair?"

"Too fair, by your standards. So be it. I'll play along with this charade for a moment or two longer. Go on then, be my warm-up act Puecia."

Puecia stepped up to stand alongside Sajika's chair, so that she was in view of the entire family.

"My daughters, my sons, my husbands, my most dear to my heart. You all know now of our tradition. The transition from one Mother Of The State to the next is a time of great celebration and hope. The only price we must pay to ensure the continuing prosperity of our nation is the death of a stranger. This is the Doctor. Today we must eat this stranger and with his sacrifice we shall grow stronger."

She stepped back. The Doctor took this as his cue to begin. Know your audience - that's the key to any performance, he reflected. His tactics were clear in his mind. Since entering the hall he had been carefully scanning the faces of all of the family. Aristha had been almost totally correct in her assessment. The males were all Eternals and the females, with the exceptions of Puecia and Sajika were humans. So the Doctor decided to aim his talk squarely at the girls lined up along the left of the table.

"Ladies, what I am about to tell you is going to come as a great shock to you but I ask that you hear me out. I need you to concentrate very hard and touch your..." His voiced trailed off as he heard the slamming of the huge wooden door behind him. Swinging around he saw that Puecia, Sajika and all of the males had left the room. He was alone with the five girls, none of whom seemed to be concentrating upon his words. This was going to be more difficult than he had expected.

Aristha silently willed him to succeed. She turned around as the door to the observation room opened and the Grand Usher walked in.

"So you wish to know the truth do you? Here, allow me to show you."

The Grand Usher flicked a switch on the console which housed the monitor.

"There. You'll be able to see the truth as we do now."

Aristha looked back at the screen and immediately wished that she hadn't. The Doctor was being backed slowly into a corner by the five girls. Except there were no longer girls at all. Gone were the fancy dresses, the shining hair and the manicured finger nails. In their place were ragged garments of dirty cloth, unkempt grey fur and razor-sharp claws. But it was the faces which shocked the most. They were not the faces of human girls but the faces of ferocious wolf-like creatures. Wolves wearing clothes and walking on their hind legs! Wolves with intelligence? What were these creatures? Aristha shouted out a warning to the Doctor but of course it was no use, he could not hear her.

* * *

When the wolves were ready to move in for the kill they advanced in pack formation and took the Doctor completely by surprise with their speed. A sense of dread welled up inside the Doctor as he realized that he had badly underestimated the Eternals. Whatever these creatures might be, they were certainly far from being ordinary human girls. The Doctor had no time to reflect further upon his misjudgement as the "girls" drew closer. Two things were clear to him; these creatures were lethal and he stood no chance of influencing them.

The "girls" crowded the Doctor until they had him totally at their mercy. When the first blow came, a sharply clawed paw slashed through the skin of the Doctor's face. He reeled as his body informed his brain of the intense physical pain and he felt a trail of his own warm blood run down his cheek. The Doctor instinctively raised his hand to his face to inspect the damage; to his horror he discovered that his left eye was seriously damaged. He shook his head to try to clear his vision but his sight was clouded red. Even that was fading as his eye went blind. The Doctor swallowed heavily and blinked, wincing at the pain.

By the time he became aware that another of the creatures was moving in on his blind side it was far too late to take any defensive action. The Doctor had no chance to fend off her attack and he totally underestimated the force of the next blow. With an anguished wail born of both pain and frustration, the Doctor was felled to the ground. He made a desperate attempt to lift himself but his limbs failed him as his strength ebbed away. Their victim now rendered completely helpless, the wolves began the gruesome end to their macabre game. With a blood-curdling cry of victory they held down the whimpering Time Lord and began to feast.

* * *

Up in the observation room, it was all too much for poor Aristha. She vomited violently all over the monitor screen as one of the wolf girls took a satisfying bite out of the Doctor's neck and the Time Lord thrashed violently one last time as a pool of blood started to form on the floor beneath him. Aristha was, luckily, also spared the grotesque sight of one of the wolves tearing open her friend's chest in pursuit of one of his, still just about beating, hearts.

Everything had happened with such terrifying speed. By the time that Aristha had managed to pull herself together, just five minutes later, it was all over. She grimaced as she wiped her own vomit away from the monitor screen, fighting the powerful urge to add to it, and mentally steeled herself to take another look at the carnage. She shocked beyond terror to see that all that was left of the Doctor was a hideously contorted skeleton with just a few pieces of red flesh and scraps of colourful clothes hanging off of it. None of the flesh stayed hanging there for long though. Within another minute the wolf girls had finished their main course and turned their attention to lapping up the pools of blood off the floor and licking playfully at the blood stains upon each other's clothing.

Aristha stood trembling as she was violently sick again. When she next looked up it was to see the Grand Usher and Puecia standing over her, both of them were laughing hysterically.

* * *

"Something is bothering you, I see," cackled the former Mother Of The State. "Oh yes, I remember now, the Doctor owed you some money didn't he?"

Still laughing dementedly, Puecia held up the £10 note which she had secretly removed from the Doctor's pocket on their way to the banqueting hall.

"Spend it wisely my dear! If you ever get to see your own planet again, that is."

With her last remaining fragment of resolve totally broken, Aristha collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor and wept.

**END OF PART 3**

(to be concluded very soon)

_Author's Note: The fourth and final part should be up here very soon. Please watch this space._


	4. Part 4

Author's Note: Here's the final part of this story. Please read and review - and, hopefully, enjoy...

Daughters Of The State (Part 4)

Puecia did not bother to lock the door when she and the Grand Usher left the observation room. The game was almost over and she had no interest in keeping Aristha prisoner any longer. She had no further interest in Aristha whatsoever. The Eternals were preparing to leave this small, artificially constructed, world behind them and return home to the endless voids of eternity. There they would relieve the tedium of their existence by formulating their next plan to entertain themselves. In a while, this world would fade out of existence and anyone left behind would die with it.

There would not be very many of those though. The only ephemerals remaining would be Aristha, the five wolf girls and a smattering of about a hundred humans brought here to make up the general population beyond the palace grounds. Those ordinary people were, at this very moment, enthusiastically beginning to gather outside the palace in the hopes of meeting the five former Daughters Of The State upon their release into the community.

Puecia had started to get a feeling of anticlimax following the death of the Doctor and her taunting of Aristha. The thought of releasing the wolf girls into the outside community lifted her spirits no end though. She smiled at the thought of the savage, primal carnage which she was about to unleash. It was a simple plan. As soon as the wolf girls were released and the doors of the palace were closed behind them, the Eternals would lift all of the memory blocks they had placed on the ephemerals and switch off all of the hallucinogenic devices. The appearance of the wolf girls would generate chaos and fear in the humans, which would be delightful to behold.

* * *

The scene in the banqueting hall had calmed down somewhat. With no more edible parts of the Time Lord remaining, the five wolf girls had sated their appetites for now and were curled up together on the floor sleeping contentedly. They stirred only ever so slightly at the sound of Sajika re-entering the hall. 

"My sisters, my most dear to my heart," began Sajika. "I trust that you have feasted well?"

Nyiha got to her feet first.

"Indeed so."

Nyiha could hardly believe that just a few hours earlier she had led a delegation of her sisters to Sajika's room in order to try to end the practice of eating a stranger at the Transition. The Doctor had been, quite simply, the most delicious morsel that she had ever tasted. She accepted Sajika's hand as the Mother Of The State reached out to help her to her feet. Once that Nyiha was on her feet, Sajika helped in turn each of the others to get up.

"Now it is time for you all to leave and begin your new lives out amongst our people. I trust that you shall all find satisfaction in the world beyond. You must leave within the hour. Be ready at the main door." Sajika turned and left the room leaving the wolf girls to sort themselves out.

* * *

Aristha found herself alone and afraid. She had cried until no more tears would come. Rubbing her eyes with her vomit stained sleeve, she blinked herself alert and took a look at her surroundings. She was still in the observation room but now she was alone. The £10 note lay on the floor beside her where Puecia had obviously dropped it. Aristha picked up the money and put it into her pocket. It might provide her with some clues as to her real identity and her real life - though with the Doctor slain by those beasts it seemed very unlikely that she would ever find her way home. She could not just sit here for the rest of her life though. 

She rose unsteadily to her feet and crossed the floor to try the door handle. To her great surprise, the handle gave easily and the door opened. Where should she go though? She was torn with indecision for a moment. She felt almost duty bound to go down to the banqueting hall and pay her respects to the skeleton but the thought of coming face to face with the wolf girls put her off that idea quickly. The other option was to try to find the entrance to the underground passageway connecting this palace to the one where she had been held captive the previous night. That was the only place where she might stand a chance of surviving for a time. There was no shortage of food there and perhaps she might be able to barricade the doors somehow. It was a slim hope but realistically it remained her only viable option.

The corridor outside the observation room was entirely deserted and Aristha encountered no one - neither Eternal nor Wolf - on her walk to the passageway. Retracing her steps from the observation room back to Puecia's study proved to be far easier than Aristha had expected. In her mind she remembered making the trip many times before during her childhood. She laughed bitterly to herself at the idea of her false memories finally being of use to her. Upon reaching Puecia's study it was a simple matter to retrace her steps along the short distance to the passageway. The secret door opened at the first attempt. Her luck seemed to be holding for the moment so she took advantage of it. With the door closed behind her she hurtled along the tunnel at breakneck speed and didn't stop running until she was back inside her former prison. Setting up the barricades was what she knew she ought to do next but her desire to feel clean and human again was overwhelming. So she headed up the stairs towards the bathroom to get herself bathed and tidied up to her satisfaction. Perhaps she might be able to think more clearly with all the dirt of the day removed from her skin?

After locking the bathroom door behind her, she turned her attention to the shower cubicle. She decided to get the shower running while she got undressed. Parting the double doors of the cubicle she was astonished to find not the empty space which she was expecting, but instead a tall blue box. Straight away she realised that this must be the Doctor's missing TARDIS. What was it that he had told her? She could still hear his words ringing in her brain…

"That is the spare key to my TARDIS. We might get separated and, if we do, you might stumble upon the TARDIS before I do. If you find it please get inside, lock the doors behind you, and wait for me. You'll be safe in there."

Well, the Doctor was dead. He would not be coming back. But that didn't necessarily mean that the rest of his words would not hold true. She might be far safer in the TARDIS than outside of it. She dug her hand into her pocket, retrieved the strange looking key, and placed it into what appeared to be the lock. With one turn the TARDIS doors opened inwardly allowing her access. She climbed over the edge of the shower cubicle, entered the Doctor's box…

… and blinked in astonishment at what she saw within. Even after all of the shocks and horrors of the last day and night, nothing could have prepared her for the spatial anomaly that is the TARDIS. She found herself in a vast white hexagonal room. At the centre of the room stood a hexagonal instrument bank packed with flashing lights, switches and buttons. Protruding from the top of this unusual structure was a large glass cylinder, inside which there was another odd looking structure made up of vertically arranged red and pink glass rods. Aristha was just starting to take in the other features of the room, such as the roundels on the six walls and the modest looking door hanging open on the other side of the chamber, when the double doors through which she had entered slammed shut behind her. The cylinder in the centre of the control bank started to rise and fall seemingly of its own volition and a strange screeching sound reverberated through the room. Aristha ran over and clutched at the control bank for support as the whole room shuddered slightly. She did not know this, of course, but the TARDIS was now in flight.

* * *

The crowds outside the palace had swelled to the full one hundred by the time that Sajika gave the instruction to open up the doors. 

There were gasps of awe from the men folk as they caught sight of the five beauties for the first time other than on their television screens. The five sisters warily walked forward as one until they were halfway up to the gathered throng of people. The palace doors closed behind them and the crowd moved forwards.

* * *

The Eternals were all crowded together in the observation room watching the scene unfold. After a few moments, the Grand Usher flicked the switch that would cut off the hallucinogenic devices and restore the real memories of the humans and the wolf girls alike. The Eternals leaned in closer to the screen in anticipation of the massacre to come.

* * *

The human crowd was now milling about in total confusion. Where were they? How had they gotten here? They looked at each other in utter confusion. However, they didn't have very long to ponder these mysteries before one of them happened to glance over at the palace and spot five ravenous looking nightmare creatures bearing down upon them. The man pointed and screamed and the crowd scattered in terror as the wolf girls advanced. Unfortunately for the humans, the wolves were far quicker and far less concerned about being in unfamiliar surroundings. The street was soon awash with human blood as the wolves gained the upper hand.

* * *

A short while later, the Eternals transported themselves back to their own domain and this whole world (now no longer needed) ceased to exist, leaving behind no trace that it had ever been there. 

No trace except for Aristha, the only ephemeral to escape the carnage. She knew and remembered the horrors. They were her only true memories. She and the TARDIS were now far, far away though …

THE END

Authors Note: This concludes my 4 part story. I'm already planning another story to follow on from this in which I shall resolve all of the open threads.I know exactly what's going on but...oh, I love to tease...


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